The knowledge of a foreign language always comes to one’s benefit and is often regarded as an added credential to your profile. Children should be encouraged to learn a foreign language in their early years, since that is the time when their knowledge

reception powers are the highest and they are eager to learn new things. If you want your children to learn a foreign language or help them master their first language, but you aren’t sure from where to start, then Gus on the Go is the language learning app that you should look for. It is a wonderful learning tool that helps you teach your child the vocabulary of a spoken language. Some features of the app are as follows:

It is currently available on iOS and Android in 15 different languages such as, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Hebrew, etc.

It allows you to discover a new language through interactive lessons and engaging lesson reviews for shapes, colors, numbers and more.

It consists of 6 unique games which will help your kids learn new vocabulary in a fun way.

You can unlock more games by completing lesson reviews.

To keep children motivated Gus on the Go incorporates motivator elements such as trophies, which they can earn by successfully completing games and can keep a track of them by visiting the trophy room.

To illustrate how Gus on the Go works, let’s assume that we want to learn Spanish language. For this, the main screen of the app will be presented as a country map of Mexico, Spain. The story presumes that the main character of the app, Gus- the owl is headed to Mexico and is inviting you to come along and explore the Spanish language with him. You should begin by choosing a city destination on the map, so that you’re taken to a small city map with roads leading to various unlocked levels. Every lesson starting with the first one contains vocabulary reviews which you need to complete in order to proceed to the next level and unlock new and exciting games. Your journey ends when you successfully complete the last level, and then you can say that you have completed a foreign language course and can start practicing it in real-life.

This app is designed in such an attractive manner, that children remain engaged throughout their course of learning a new language. The interactive elements such as the inclusion of a story-line and games make this app all the more interesting. Altogether, the app is presented as a series of fun and highly interactive lessons, supplemented with engaging lesson reviews at the end of each lesson. All the narration and information in the app is presented by the native speaker of the language you chose to learn. This ensures proper pronunciation and eliminates the issue of accent. On the whole, the app features 10 interactive lessons on vocabulary with about 90 vocabulary words. The categories included in the vocabulary of a language vary from language to language, and can include topics like, animals, colors, shapes, numbers, food and more.

The app is designed in such a way that you are able to proceed through the lesson in a certain order. You start at the barn lesson which is found to be located at the first city in the city map. The map screen shows a lot of directional arrows, which show the intended order in which you are expected to proceed. Upon successful completion of this first barn lesson, the first game along with the next lesson on the market fruits and vegetables is unlocked. Similarly, completion of each lesson review will unlock a few games with the next lesson. Once you have unlocked a lesson or game once, you can open it and play it anytime you want, to improve your performance on it. So, the app is designed like this and you don’t have to worry about having to pay in order to proceed through the game.

One notable thing about this app, which distinguishes it from other language learning apps, is that it is designed without having text in English. This has led to the creation of such an environment for the app, which makes it feel language immersive with an intuitive interface, without the requirement of instructions. Also, the app is country specific with country maps containing city icons that guide you through lessons. To make it more realistic and engaging, specific country landmarks are also depicted at certain points. You can tap on the city icons which will take you to a little city scene with a few vocabulary lessons grouped by themes, which I’ve already mentioned above.

The game is designed to make sure that every vocabulary lesson should have a fun interactive component. One interesting lesson you’ll come across will be that having a transportation scene. You can swipe through the screen to spin the wheels of transport. Once the wheel stops spinning, a new vocabulary word pops up and the native speaker repeats the word at a comfortable pace. It seems like a very simple concept but is sure to keep children amused for quite a long time. Another interesting lesson and one of the developer’s favorites is the Number lesson. Though it doesn’t teach children how to count, it makes use of attractive animal graphics depicting numbers and swapping and tapping help you go forwards and backwards in this lesson.

Another important aspect, of this app is that after every lesson is completed, you are presented with a short review. Your incorrect choices are replaced with correct ones which are highlighted and the audio is replayed to reinforce the correct audio and graphic pairing. The most exciting part is that once you’ve completed the review, it unlocks more vocabulary lessons and games. Also, each game reinstates words from the previous lessons, to augment words that you’ve learned in the past.

I feel that, Gus on the Go works for diverse ages, though usually recommended for the age group of 2-6. One feature which stands out according to me is that the vocabulary keeps building, since as you progress through the app and take quizzes you will add categories and be quizzed on what you just learned and what you have learned in the previous sections to encourage vocabulary retention. I recommend, Gus on the Go language learning series to anyone who wants to teach their child a language or make him proficient in his native language. Share your views and knowledge with us, the Comment Box is waiting.

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About the Author

Author: Saomya Saxena

Educational technology blogger, loves to research and write about tools and tips for educators on how to integrate technology into everyday instruction creatively and effectively. Fond of reading and writing.

EdTechReview (ETR) is a community of and for everyone involved in education technology to connect and collaborate both online and offline to discover, learn, utilize and share about the best ways technology can improve learning, teaching, and leading in the 21st century.

EdTechReview spreads awareness on education technology and its role in 21st century education through best research and practices of using technology in education, and by facilitating events, training, professionaldevelopment, and consultation in its adoption and implementation.

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